My radio on my boat has all of a sudden stopped working right. It will turn on normally and will display the name of the radio station and the song but the speakers only make a thump when I change the station and will not play. I ahve checked connections and they all seemed to be good. Anybody have any ideas?
17 Carolina Skiff
60 Johnson
Time to upgrade. Maybe even a protective cover.
‘87 Pacemaker 31’ SF
‘04 Renegade 29’ 2 225’s
‘97 Maycraft 17’ 40 hp
The radio was brand new when I bought the boat about a month ago. It has a splash guard on it. However it is not a marine radio just a regular car radio. Does this change anything?
17 Carolina Skiff
60 Johnson
Your radio is prone to corrosion especially if you store your boat on the water. I replaced my marine radio with a regular car stereo that I took out of my old truck after I sold it. Knock on wood… its been working great( 3 years now) It was definitely an upgrade from my marine radio because the speaker connections behind the marine stereo were corroded and would frequently cut in and out plus the new stereo had USB and MP3 connections. Mine has a detachable face which I always take out after each use. Do you have a separate amp to your speakers? I ask because you said they make a thump sound. Sounds like a blown amp? Do you crank it up real loud?
The speakers are not hooked to an amp or anything just the radio. I also take the faceplate off of the radio and do not store it on the water. I also left the radio down kinda low. Low enough to have a conversation while fishing over it.
17 Carolina Skiff
60 Johnson
Check the connections from the face plate to the actual deck. Sometimes it doesn’t seat properly and you maybe getting power but speaker connections not are not plugging in correctly. Try checking all your wire connections again, do the wiggle test. Wiggle some wires around with it connected and on and see if the speakers work even for a second. If so it might just be a loose connection(s). It may be something as easy as a replacing a bad terminal or wire connection. The most time consuming part is troubleshooting. If none of that works …your stereo just probably went bad. If you’ve had for a only a month maybe its still under warranty?
I just purchased the boat about a month ago but the radio was new from the previous owner so I dont have any receipt or warranty info on it. I believe in just went bad. I will purchase a marine grade radio this time.
17 Carolina Skiff
60 Johnson